Photos: Segway rollouts, recalls and pratfalls

It was supposed to revolutionize urban transport. But five years after its public debut, the two-wheeled transporter from Segway is still finding its way through an obstacle course of slow sales and technological hangups. The latest bump in the road: On Thursday, the company announced a safety recall of all transporters sold to date because of a software glitch that could cause the wheels to suddenly change direction. This marks the second recall for Segway in just a few years; the first was in 2003.

Kathee Hashimoto/CNET Networks

The Segway was born amid tremendous hype in 2001 after Inside.com first reported on a mysterious transport device, based on a book proposal from Harvard Business Press. At the time, the device was known variously as "IT" and more commonly "Ginger," and some backers went so far as to proclaim wholesale change might be needed in the way cities were laid out. Among the early enthusiasts for the prospective device were tech luminaries including Apple Computer's Steve Jobs, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos and venture capitalist John Doerr.

Segway inventor Dean Kamen was forced to put this note on his Web site: "We have a promising project, but nothing of the earth-shattering nature that people are conjuring up." Pictured here is one of the drawings from Kamen's patent application.

It was supposed to revolutionize urban transport. But five years after its public debut, the two-wheeled transporter from Segway is still finding its way through an obstacle course of slow sales and technological hangups. The latest bump in the road: On Thursday, the company announced a safety recall of all transporters sold to date because of a software glitch that could cause the wheels to suddenly change direction. This marks the second recall for Segway in just a few years; the first was in 2003.

Kathee Hashimoto/CNET Networks

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By Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop support specialist in the ...

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Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop support specialist in the social research and energy industries. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisville, where he has also lectured on computer crime and crime prevention.